Chair construction



April 19, 1955 P. FLEISCHER CHAIR CONSTRUCTION 'Filed Nov. 23. 1951 IN VEN TOR.

PAUL. East- ATTO RNEYS- United States Patent CHAIR CONSTRUCTION Paul Fleischer, University Heights, Ohio Application November 23, 1951, Serial No. 257,896

7 Claims. (Cl. 155-194) This invention relates generally to chair construction, but has reference more particularly to a chair embodying tubular parts.

It has heretofore been proposed, as in Hirsch Patent No. 2,454,699, for example, to construct a chair in which separate tubular members are employed to provide upright back portions to which a back of wood or other suitable rigid or pliable material is secured, as by means of screws.

In cases Where the back has pronounced curvature, it is necessary to form or shape the back portions of such members to conform to the curvature of the back, and since the curvature at one side is in a direction opposite to the curvature at the other side, it is necessary to provide rights and lefts, insofar as the members having such back portions are concerned.

Aside from the foregoing disadvantages, it is necessary, in addition to using screws to fasten the various parts of the chair together, to use tools for assembling the parts.

Moreover, while the parts may be nested to some extent to conserve space in shipping, certain of the parts are so constructed that on the whole, the space-saving is not too great.

Another drawback to the sale of chairs of the foregoing type is that, in most cases, the assembly of the chairs is a rather complicated matter, so that an instruction sheet must be supplied to the purchaser.

The present invention has as its primary object the provision of a chair of the type described, the construction and assembly of which overcomes all of the aforesaid disadvantages.

More specifically, the chair of the present invention has been designed to enable the parts thereof to be assembled into an extremely rigid unitary structure, without the use of screws or similar fastening means, and without the use of screw drivers, pliers, wrenches or other tools. The chair, moreover, is so designed, that the portions thereof to which the back is secured can all be of identical construction, thereby eliminating the need for rights" and lefts of different construction. Furthermore, the component parts are of such construction or design that they can be shipped flat, in a minimum of shipping space, and can be easily and quickly assembled without an instruction sheet to guide the assembler.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent during the course of the following description. In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

Fig. l is a perspective view of a chair embodying the invention, with portions thereof broken away to more clearly show the construction;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front elevational view of a portion of one of the members which forms the rear legs of the chair;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary rear elevational view of a portion one of the members which forms the front legs of the c an;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view, taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view, taken on the line 55 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view, taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5, and

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary crosssectional view, taken on the line 7--7 of Fig. 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the chair will be seen to comprise a pair of side members of identi- 2,706,518 Patented Apr. 19, 1955 cal construction, generally designated by reference numeral 10. Each side member is formed of a single piece of bent aluminum tubing or other suitable tubing material.

Each of the side members is bent or shaped to provide an end portion forming a front leg 11, a substantially horizontal intermediate portion forming a seat support 12,

which is substantially perpendicular to the leg 11, and an end portion forming a back element 13, which is preferably inclined rearwardly, so as to form an obtuse angle with the portion 12. n

The portions 12 of the side members are provided in their upper surfaces with longitudinally-spaced elongated slots 14 (Figs. 1 and 7), which serve a purpose to be presently described.

The portions 13 of the side members are provided in their rear surfaces with vertically-spaced openings (Figs. 3 and 4) of keyhole shape, having enlarged circular lower portions 15 and narrow upper portions 16 which communicate with the portions 15. These keyhole slots oropenings serve a purpose to be presently described.

The chair also includes a rear member, generally designated by reference numeral 17, formed of a single piece of bent aluminum tubing or other suitable tubing material, to provide lower end portions forming rear legs 18, which are preferably inclined rearwardly, so as to form obtuse angles with the portions 12 of the members 10, portions 19 which are disposed rearwardly of and in contiguity with the portions 13 of the members 10 and extend at an angle to the leg portions 18, and a substantially horizontal intermediate portion 20, which interconnects the portions 19 and is substantially perpendicular to the latter.

The portions 19 of the member 17 are provided with vertically-spaced pins 21, which extend diametrically through these portions 19 and are riveted to said portions 19, as at 22. These pins 21 are spaced to correspond with the spacing of the keyhole openings 15, and are provided at their forward ends with disk-like heads 23 of substantially the same diameter as the width of the portions 16 of the keyhole openings, and enlarged disk-like heads 24 of substantially the same diameter as the diameter of the portions 15 of the keyhole openings. The heads 23 are of substantially the same length as the thickness of the portions 13 of the side members 10.

The portion 20 of the member 17 is provided in its upper surface, at a point intermediate its length, with an elongated slot 25 (Fig. 1), similar to the slots 14, and which serves a purpose to be presently described.

The chair further includes a seat 26, which is made of wood or other rigid material, which may have a cushioning material on its upper surface. The seat 26 has secured to its lower surface, adjacent its side edges, pairs of fastening elements, which are spaced to correspond to the spacing of the slots 14. Each of these elements, as shown in Fig. 7, comprises a base 27, which is secured to the lower surface of the seat 26, as by screws 28, and a pair of depending flanges 29, which are spaced apart laterally the Width of the slots 14, and from which detents 30 are punched or struck, these detents being of a resilient nature, and normally occupying the position shown in Fig. 7.

The chair further includes a back 31, which is made of wood or other rigid material, which may have a cushioning material on its front surface. The back 31 is provided in its lower edge 32 with spaced openings 33 of a diameter to permit a snug fit therein of the portions 13 of side members 10. The back 31 also has secured to its lower edge 32, at a point intermediate the length of said edge, a fastening element (not shown), which is in all respects similar to the elements 272930, and which also serves a purpose to be presently described.

The parts of the chair, as described above, are assembled in the following manner:

Each of the side members 10 is secured to the rear member 17, by inserting the heads 24 of the pins 21 into and through the portions 15 of the keyhole openings, after which the portions 13 of the side members and portions 19 of the rear member are moved relatively to each other so as to cause the heads 23 of the pins 21 to enter the portions 16 of the keyhole slots. This brings the heads 24 to the position shown in Fig. 4, in which position, the parts 13 and 19 are precluded against movement away from each other. The back 31 is then placed in position by entering the portions 13 of the side members in the openings 33 and moving the back downwardly until the lower edge 32 thereof comes into engagement with the portion 20 of the rear member 17, as shown in Fig. 5. This movement causes the fastening element at the lower edge of the back 31 to enter the slot 25 in the manner shown in Fig. 7, the detents 30 being biased inwardly by the side edges of the slot 25. After the detents have moved entirely through the slot, their spring action causes them to assume the position shown in Fig. 7, in which position, the upper ends of the detents underlie the metal adjacent the side edges of the slot, precluding removal of the back from the rear member, except by the use of considerable force.

By securing the back to the portions 13 and 20 in the aforesaid manner, the portions 13 and 19 are effectively locked to each other, as shown in Fig. 4, so that relative vertical movement between the portions 13 and 19 cannot occur.

After the parts 10, 17 and 31 have been thus assembled with each other, the seat 26 is secured in position on the portions 12 of the side members 10 by causing the fastening elements 29-30 to enter the slots 14 in the manner shown in Fig. 7. This eflectively locks the seat to the side members, and precludes removal of the seat, except by the use of considerable force.

The parts of the chair are thus assembled into an extremely rigid unitary structure, without the use of screws or similar fastening means, and without the use of screw drivers, pliers, wrenches or other tools.

Since both side members 10 are of identical construction, the need for rights and lefts of different con struction is eliminated.

It will be further noted that all of the component parts are of such construction, each lying in substantially a single flat plane, as to enable the parts to be shipped flat, in a minimum of shipping space.

Moreover, the assembly, as indicated above, is so obvious and simple that it can be accomplished without the aid of an instruction sheet.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention, herewith shown and described, is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of my invention, or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a chair, the combination of a pair of horizontallyspaced ground-engaging side members, an inverted U- shaped ground-engaging rear member, the base of said U-shaped member extending horizontally between said side members, releasable securing means, responsive solely to relative movement between each of said side members and said rear member, connecting said side members to said rear member, and a back element provided with means for securement to said base of said rear member and to said side members to retain said members against releasing counter-movement relatively to each other.

2. In a chair, the combination of a pair of horizontallyspaced ground-engaging side members, an inverted U- shaped ground-engaging rear member, said rear member having horizontally-spaced portions coplanar with said side members, releasable securing means, responsive solely to relative movement between each of said side members and said coplanar portions of said rear member, connecting said side members to said rear member, and a rigid back element having means for interconnecting said side members with said rear member to lock said side members against releasing movement relatively to said rear member.

3. In a chair, the combination of a pair of side members, each of said side members having a leg portion, a ground-engaging rear member, said rear member having a pair of integral horizontally-spaced portions coplanar with said side members, said rear member having an integral horizontal portion intermediate said side members, securing means, responsive solely to relative longitudinal movement between each of said side members and said horizontally spaced portions of said rear member, conmeeting said side members to said rear member, a back element, means securing said element to said horizontal portion of said rear member, and means provided on said element and engaging said side members to lock said members against relative longitudinal releasing movement.

4. In a chair, the combination of a pair of horizontallyspaced ground-engaging side members, each of said side members having an upwardly extending back-supporting portion, an inverted U-shaped ground-engaging rear member, the base of said U-shaped member extending horizontally between said side members, releasable securing means connecting said side members to said rear member solely in response to relative movement between each of said side members and said rear member, a back element, means securing said element to said base of said rear member, and means provided on said back eiement and slidably engaging said back-supporting portions of said side members to retain said side members against releasing counter-movement relatively to said rear member.

5. A combination as defined in claim 4 including a seat and means for frictionally securing said seat to said side members.

6. In a chair, the combination of a pair of horizontallyspaced ground-engaging side members, an inverted U- shaped rear member having horizontally-spaced leg portions substantially coplanar with said side members, said rear member having a horizontally extending base portion disposed intermediate said side members, fastening means, operative solely in response to downward longitudinal movement of said side members relatively to said leg portions of said rear member, securing said side members to said rear member, a back element, means securing said element to said base portion of said rear member, and means provided on said back element and slidably engaging said side members to lock said side members against upward longitudinal movement relatively to said leg portions of said rear member.

7. A combination as defined in claim 6 wherein said fastening means comprises a pin and slot connection between said side members and said rear member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 143,982 Michelson Feb. 26, 1946 1,674,220 Percival June 19, 1928 1,718,321 Vericel June 25, 1929 2,171,925 Fitts Sept. 5, 1939 2,181,966 Dean Dec. 5, 1939 2.28l,902 Witz May 5, 1942 2,453,090 Guild et a1. Nov. 2, 1948 2,454,408 Roth Nov 23, 1948 2,454,699 Hirsch Nov 23, 1948 2,525,126 Greitzer Oct. 10, 1950 2,578,397 Brown Dec. 11, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 752,580 France July 24, 1933 947,349 France Ian. 10, 1949 

